CaratLane is experiencing significant growth in Tier II cities: Jennifer Pandya

Can spoken word poetry be used to drive realisation for a jewellery brand? CaratLane thinks yes, as long as you focus on keeping your marketing communication contextual to the occasion and current trends.  

CaratLane recently launched a campaign titled ‘Wear Your Wins’ aiming to initiate a cultural movement. It seeks to empower women by encouraging them to celebrate every victory—whether big or small, personal or professional.

The campaign spotlights content creator Nancy Tyagi, who, among other things, garnered attention for walking the Cannes Film Festival red carpet in a self-made gown adorned with CaratLane jewellery. In conjunction with the campaign, the brand introduced its inaugural collection, PEAK, to symbolise this initiative.

In an exclusive interview with Social Samosa, Jennifer Pandya, VP - Marketing, CaratLane, takes us behind the process of the campaign’s ideation and creation process. She provides an in-depth look into the company's journey, recent campaigns, and future aspirations. 

Accessibility to emotional expression

Since joining CaratLane, Jennifer has witnessed an evolution in the company's marketing strategy. Originally, CaratLane aimed to make beautiful jewellery accessible to all, focusing on everyday wear designs. However, the brand soon realised that jewellery serves a deeper purpose: expressing emotions. This insight led to a redefined purpose encapsulated in the #KhulKeKaroExpress campaign. Jennifer explains, "Our marketing strategy now emphasises enabling people to express their emotions while continuing to craft beautiful, innovative jewellery."

CaratLane has introduced several initiatives to reinforce this purpose, including 24-hour delivery, gold exchange services, and a unique postcard feature that allows embedding a video message in a ring. These efforts add an emotional dimension to gifting jewellery, making it more than just a physical piece.

…and to affordability

The campaign featuring Nancy Tyagi was designed to emphasise diamond jewellery being accessible and affordable. Jennifer shares that the idea for the campaign arose from a desire to participate in the Cannes Festival, where many influencers, including Nancy, would be present. "When Nancy’s team reached out to us, what resonated with us was her story," she shares. 

Sharing her thoughts on the Cannes moment, Nancy Tyagi says, The experience has been great and lovely. Styling an outfit for the D Day had to be something special, something I always desired. CaratLane was perfect for me—their designs and elegance have always left me awestruck. Wearing something you love is always a great feeling."

The collaboration with Tyagi transitioned into the #WearYourWins campaign, celebrating women who reward themselves for their achievements. Supporting Nancy’s dream aligned perfectly with our brand values, highlighting CaratLane’s focus on accessibility and affordability," Jennifer notes. 

Conceptualising 'Wear Your Wins'

The #WearYourWins campaign was conceptualised to empower women to celebrate their personal and professional victories. Jennifer highlights an important statistic from a study conducted with Quantum: "Only 3 out of 10 women celebrate their wins." This insight prompted CaratLane to launch a campaign urging women to acknowledge and reward themselves for their accomplishments.

The intention behind the campaign was to create a cultural movement. "We see this as a cultural movement rather than a campaign," Jennifer remarks. Complementing this campaign is the 'Peak' collection, which celebrates women's strength and resilience. Crafted with White Quartz and Amethyst, the collection features an Everest Cut inspired by the CaratLane logo and brand colour. "Peak collection features a unique (first of its kind) mountain-inspired Everest Cut as a testament to the journey of small or big milestones," Jennifer elaborates.

Of influencers and saturation 

Influencer marketing is a critical component of CaratLane's strategy. The brand collaborates with influencers and celebrities known for their feedback and styling tips. "Most of our marketing strategies are to achieve two key business objectives - building desire and driving conversion. Collaborating with influencers and celebrities who are known to share authentic feedback and offer good styling tips helps build trust in the brand. We also use user-generated content (UGC) and consumer reviews to build advocacy, resulting in better conversions,” the VP of marketing explains.

The brand has a significant following on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook–which a lot of new-age brands seem to miss out on. CaratLane seems to understand its target audience and ensures that appreciated communication is designed for particular platforms. Besides its 1.04 million followers on Instagram, it boasts 2.1 million followers on Facebook. 

CaratLane Instagram features recurring faces whom it collaborates with, ensuring a consistency in communication.

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On how the influencers are selected, Jennnifer says that CaratLane carefully selects influencers who align with the brand's ethos and can connect with its audience on a personal level. "Both these approaches allow CaratLane to connect with its audience on a personal level, leveraging the stories and experiences of its consumers," she adds.

The jewellery segment, nonetheless, is fairly saturated considering India’s fascination with jewellery. Several digital-first brands have emerged to cater to this seemingly never-ending demand for ornaments. 

As per Jennifer Pandya, CaratLane maintains a competitive edge by prioritising the customer. "Keeping the customer at the centre of everything we do helps us stay ahead of our competitors," she asserts. The brand's digital-first approach ensures that its marketing communications are contextual and aligned with current trends. 

CaratLane also embraces creative liberty to drive realisation through statistics and unconventional mediums like spoken word poetry. "Creative liberty can be taken to drive realisation through statistics from research or even talking about serious topics through off-beat mediums like spoken word poetry," Jennifer explains, underscoring the brand's approach to communication.

A digital-first strategy and demographic sense

CaratLane adopts a digital-first strategy, recognising the significant amount of time its target audience spends on social media. "It also helps us personalise at scale and hence most of our spending is digital," Jennifer notes. This approach allows CaratLane to reach its audience effectively and efficiently.

Traditional media still plays a role in CaratLane's overall strategy, albeit a smaller one compared to digital channels. The brand ensures a balanced media mix to leverage the strengths of both digital and traditional platforms.

The company’s revenue growth strategy focuses on three main segments: women buying jewellery for themselves, women gifting other women, and men gifting women. The largest segment is women buying jewellery for themselves, particularly in metropolitan areas. "This market is particularly relevant in metropolitan areas like Delhi, Bangalore, and Mumbai as well as some Tier I and Tier II cities due to the high rate of working women population in the corporate world" Jennifer points out. 

To tap into the vast potential of smaller towns and villages, CaratLane has expanded its presence to over 275 stores across 110 cities in India. "While metro cities like Delhi and Bangalore contribute the most to its sales, CaratLane is experiencing significant growth in Tier II cities where consumers seek modern, everyday diamond jewellery that local jewellers don’t offer. This expansion strategy aims to leverage the unmet demand in smaller cities,” Jennifer reveals. 

Festive season and short-term plans

As the festive season approaches, CaratLane is in the planning stages for its campaigns. The brand aims to create a cultural movement where women reward their wins through the #WearYourWins campaign. "We want to create a cultural movement where women reward their wins by gifting themselves through our #WearYourWins campaign," Jennifer shares.

In the long term, CaratLane aspires to be relevant for all jewellery-buying occasions, from everyday wear to significant life events. "We want to be the champions for the expression of emotions and use our jewellery to enable our customers to do so," Jennifer concludes.

CaratLane's journey illustrates its adaptive strategy and understanding of the jewellery market's evolution. By shifting its focus from accessibility to emotional expression, the brand has changed how consumers perceive jewellery. Its use of influencer collaborations, digital-first marketing, and personalised customer engagement helps it stay relevant in a saturated market. As CaratLane expands its reach and continues to innovate–in Jennifer Pandya’s words–it aims to turn everyday moments into expressions of personal triumph and joy through its jewellery.